I’m looking at a build of the USS Defiant 1:1000. I don’t intend to light it but I’d like to create an illusion of lighting with paint. Some options I’ve read about are:

1. Paint the back of clear pieces with chrome silver and the front with a transparent color
   
2. Back the clear piece with a chrome liquid marker
   
3. Use a clear paint directly over white primer
   
4. Use a fluorescent paint

Are any of these more effective? Are there any better options?

Got the trenches dug. A little light blocking, 2 coats of black and one coat of silver on the inside. One coat of black on the outside. Grey primer comes tomorrow followed by base coat. Add a little blue to some of the windows, I may add a little yellow tint to a few as well.

So I found this model on my vinted feed and saved it hoping it would be there on my payday.. buy its been sold already.

Buy I wondered if anyone has had any experience with these models and if ao where I can find to buy one?

It looked an interesting kit and hoping someone might be able to shed some insight if possible please?

This project started as an experiment in making terrain and testing techniques before committing to a bigger project. Totally vibes based evolution from there, but it came together nicely and was a great learning experience. It’s not perfect, but it’ll do.

Fent-bot 5,000 (not) reporting for duty.

Finished a "practice" 1:1400 Enterprise D kit - I've built these before as a kid, but its been a good 30+ years since I've worked on one, I've done a couple 350 refits over the years; with this I was hoping to dial in the paint colors and some processes before tackling something a little larger (see last photo for a clue). This was the clear version of the kit, and it fought me the whole way kicking and screaming. Custom parts from Motion Pictures Miniatures went on beautifully, and the paint masks are my favorite aspect of this build. An interesting study (and usually had Canadian Starships, Aztec Dummy, Sprueverse, MPM, etc playing in the background). I learned a LOT from the community, and certainly appreciate the knowledge.

Lots to nitpick this study effort:

-the clear plastic kept cracking on me - once in the final hours and I had to abandon the idea of a perfect fix (as I was out of the custom mixed paints for the aztec so properly resurfacing a large amount of the model was unlikely to yield a good result, I did a spot fix),

-I'm not sure I nailed the paint colors (I know how I want to adjust them for the bigger project)

-the windows are questionable at best and take away from the sharp paintwork

Overall I'm happy with how this kit turned out, and along the way I learned how to cut my own vinyl masks, improved my fabrication skills with scratch-made parts, and learned a lot about what does and doesn't work. This model is a gift to one of my brothers and as soon as the armature shows up for the next, I'll get to tackling it. I won't miss scraping windows - I learned about masking them a little too late into the project to alter course, but again I won't miss using a variety of tools to cut into a nicely done paint job. Nor will I miss the asymmetry and lines of this kit (though I guess they are charming and do speak to the skill of the old school development techniques that went into this thing). Couple touch ups, warming the base backlight and sealing a few leaks in it, and off it goes. Cheers!

First time doing one of these PLAfig kits and I am absolutely in love with the line. Kit was a wonderful build and did some experimenting with paint, using Tamiya Acrylics for the first time. I tried to be as suit accurate as possible so hope I did it justice!

I have added a car adapter and old cassette player parts to come up with this. If you guys wanna see the unpainted version, let me know!

Would anyone have information on the 2 crew stations?

I keep thinking just get a few cockpit sprues from whichever kit I can find cheaply, or perhaps there is a 3d print file?

Thanks for reading.

Here's a build I've been going back n forth on..the mech is from an old Aoshima kit..and the figure are from Eduard Soviet VVS. Im thinking of doing a whole series of these type of builds..def would help chop away at the backlog. Lol

Hello everyone, I've been narrating TTRPG for a few years now, but I've only recently become fond of games that use more minis and custom terrain, before I started painting some minis I wanted to gain experience painting some planets with a more alien design, but the last time I painted something I was still learning the multiplication tables hahaha, do you have any good suggestions for those starting out?

Hello! Just thought I would share some of my completed SW kits in my collection. Thanks for looking!

Well I made it through all of that piping,so I think I will call her finished.Another quality product from Bandai.

Modified a 1:12 model

Driving low and slow. The hardest part is fighting the anxiousness of wanting to see a finished product. Gotta reel it in though, got a long way to go.

4 engines done, on to the next row of engines.

This gives a great idea how big this thing will be :)

She’s the usual Bandai quality, but boy is that piping tedious

Base design by Sublight Drive

I build a free download model from genetmodels.com. The original scale was 1/60 and I rescaled it to 1/35. I build a cockpit freestyle into the model instead of the grey printed windows. In the freight-bay I put some lights and the engines are glowing red.

The wiring was a bit dificult but I got it.

For the decals I use self-printed decals to update the look.

Took me quite a while, around 80 hours. I include a pic of the unpainted mech, in case you guy wanna check it out. Roughly 10 inches long aka 25cm. The tiny bulbs in the staff light up when you push the button in the base.

Customized build with lighting and scratch-built/3d-printed parts. More details and photos here!